Sisters of the Presentation, San Francisco Photograph Collection

Finding aid created by Presentation Archives, Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (PBVM) staff using RecordEXPRESS

Presentation Archives, Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (PBVM)

2340 Turk Blvd.

San Francisco, California 94118

(415) 751-0406

presarchives@pbvmsf.org

http://www.presentationsisterssf.org/archives.htm

2014

Descriptive Summary

Title: Sisters of the Presentation, San Francisco Photograph Collection

Dates: ca. 1880-

Collection Number: R2FC8-FC9 and F11.S2-SH2

Creator/Collector:
Sisters of the Presentation

Extent: 32 record boxes and 64 oversize folders

Repository:
Presentation Archives, Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (PBVM)

San Francisco, California 94118

Abstract: Presentation Archives preserves, organizes, and makes accessible for research photographs dating from the 1880s to present.
These images serve as a record of the life and activities of the Sisters of the Presentation , a religious order of Roman
Catholic sisters founded in Ireland in 1776, and established their first American foundation in San Francisco in 1854. The
reach of the Presentation Sisters’ ministries extended throughout California, Washington, New Mexico, and countries in Latin
America.

Language of Material: English

Access

Collection open for research.

Publication Rights

Property rights reside with Presentation Archives. For permissions to reproduce or to publish, please contact the Archivist
at Presentation Archives.

Preferred Citation

Sisters of the Presentation, San Francisco Photograph Collection. Presentation Archives, Sisters of the Presentation of the
Blessed Virgin Mary (PBVM)

Acquisition Information

Most of the photographs were taken by the sisters as a record of their life and activities. There are also photographs taken
by different professional photographers who were contracted-for-hire by the Sisters of the Presentation.

Scope and Content of Collection

The Photograph Collection is arranged in the following series: Member Photographs, Ministries, Buildings, and Sisters. The
Member Photographs are individual files of photos of living, deceased, and former members of the PBVM, San Francisco community
since 1854. The photograph subjects in these files include individual, ministry, family, and others. The photographs in the
Ministries Series document the sisters’ educational ministries since 1854; their work in parishes; their ministries to the
poor, women, and immigrants; and the missions they established in Latin America (1965- ). The Building Series include convents,
schools, churches, novitiates, and properties where the sisters ministered and lived. The Sisters Series includes photographs
of sisters in community life and those who served in leadership.
Among the featured subjects are schools and convents the sisters taught and lived at; community and parish occasions; and
sisters working in their ministries. Early photographs include those of classes of students in the sisters’ schools dating
from the 1880s, and ones documenting their experience during the 1906 Earthquake and Fire in San Francisco. Among the professionally
done black and white photography from the 1940s-1960s are those of sisters and students at Presentation High School, San Francisco,
interior shots of the San Francisco Motherhouse (c. 1920s), and the ceremonies of women receiving their religious habit.
The collection also includes oversize and panoramic images of individual student portraits (1937-1942), class photographs,
and events (1920s-1940s).